On most topics there is a menu path, in what appears to be the area above the header, that can be used as a navigation aid. I say above the header because the header for this Master Page is blank. It is missing in some topics and I would like to find out why. Does anyone know how this menu path gets there/where it comes from?

This is called a Breadcrumb Trail. You may selectively apply them by inserting a Breadcrumbs placehoder into a topic directly or by adding one to a Master Page, then associating the Master Page with one or more topics.

Or, you may globally apply breadcrumbs to ALL topics by enabling them in the Single Source Layout recipe.

Thanks Jeff. I read up on breadcrumbs but still don’t understand why a few topics, that use the same master page as the rest of the project, would not show the breadcrumbs. The output is set to “Add Breadcrumb Links”.

So you're not using the breadcrumb placeholder on the master page method, right? If that's the case, then all topics would get "crumbed" when help was created. If some topics aren't getting them, something else must be going on. What's different about those "non-crumbed" pages?

If you insert the placeholder inside the Body placeholder, you will only get a breadcrumb trail if you create a new topic based on the Master Page.

If you insert the placeholder inside the Header or Footer area, ANY TOPIC associated with the Master Page should present the breadcrumbs. This also seems to apply to placeholders inserted into what I call the "no man's land" area between the proper Header or Footer area.

As you say you have breadcrumbs enabled in the Single Source Layout recipe, I'm surprised that you aren't seeing them in each and every topic you view. Are you certain you are viewing the published topics?

Rick means are you looking at the created help output that's in the project's \!SSL!\ folder? Looking at the topics themselves while still in the RH project may not show you what's actually there (same as using the Review option when finished creating the help).

Generated and, except for a couple topics, everything had breadcrumbs.

The file structure I inherited has the Main project folder with two subfolders APP Help and Webhelp (where APP is the project name, stands for Accounts Payable Processing).

The APP Help folder has the subfolders !Language!, !SkinSubFolder!, !SSL!, and Accounts Payable (this is a collection of subfolders folders where I store the .jpg’s and the system stores the generated .htm)

Your SSL recipe must have specified a different folder other than the default path of \project_name\!SSL!\output_type\ - if you just generated, then the date stamp on the output files will have the same date as the generated date; when help is generated each time, the output folder is wiped and new files are created in its place. make sure you're actually looking at the currently generated help output.

No, it doesn't really make any difference where the output location is placed (other than it shouldn't be pointed at a network location). Best practices usually dictate that your RH projects are happiest when they are located in c:\projects\project_name\ - then the output gets generated by default to c:\projects\project_name\!SSL!\WebHelp\starting_page.htm. Once generated, the whole WebHelp folder can be packaged up, moved, given to your developers, etc. for publication.

With your issue, we're just trying to see if you're actually looking at the generated output to see if the breadcrumbs are all there or not.

Can you use the camera icon in the web interface to give us a screenshot of your SSL recipe? - as Rick says, I also find it hard that the breadcrumbs aren't appearing if they are flagged to do so in the SSL layout.

With the project open, if you don't see the Single Source Layouts pod open, go to View > Pods > Single Source Layouts. Click on the WebHelp layout & right click it to check the Properties; show us the Navigation page - that's where Breadcrumbs are enabled.

Ok, try generating the help to a temp location like your c:\ drive; then use your browser to have a look at the start page - are breadcrumbs appearing in all topics? If they're still not, then something else if definitely going on. It might be something uniquely funky about the non-crumbed topics or that the SSL recipe has gotten damaged (that's easy to fix - just create - don't duplicate - a new WebHelp SSL and try it out). You might take a look at working vs. non-working topics in the HTML View to see if there's any diffs in them.

If it's something to do with importing the topic, maybe you should try creating a new topic and copying/pasting content out of the non-working topic (via notepad to be really safe) into the new one. Then generate & see if breadcrumbs appear on the new topic.

I hate to disrupt all the good breadcrumb discussion here, but I feel I should not remain silent and should offer a clarification.

Jeff said:

..Click on the WebHelp layout & right click it to check the Properties; show us the Navigation page - that's where Breadcrumbs are enabled.

What could stand clarifying is that this option where he pointed it out doesn't determine whether Breadcrumbs are turned on or off for a project. Rather, it determines whether each topic will receive a set of breadcrumbs when the WebHelp is generated.

By saying it's where they are "enabled", one might get confused and think that if they added Breadcrumbs placeholders to either individual topics directly or via a Master Page, they would also need to ensure they enabled them here in order to coax them into showing. But if you do that, you will see two sets of Breadcrumbs.

The only thing that makes sense for that to happen would be if one were viewing a different set of output files.

So you make edits and generate to folder A, but when you look at output you are really looking at folder B. Hence, no change observed.

Can't tell you the number of times we have seen this exact scenario unfold in the forums. I've even had it bite me personally. Just this week!

I was facilitating a Captivate class. I imported a PPT file and grew confused about the folder I actually imported it from. (being an instructor, I have a raft of folders that store sample data that is used again and again) Turned out things weren't working because I was looking at the wrong location. So it happens to all of us at times.

The only way I can fathom to elminate the possibility is to generate WebHelp, then choose "View" from the dialog. Assuming the global option is enabled and If things are still missing after that, something is definitely afoot that warrant some sleuthing to figure out why.